Ranking Every Super Bowl of the 21st Century
Photo by Chris O’Meara from the Associated Press
It’s midweek of Super Bowl week, and it’s also a little too early to write about F1 or MLS (even though there’s a TON of F1 offseason content worth mentioning right now. If you know, you know) so I’m in a bit of a writer’s slump.
That was, until a friend of mine mentioned the Super Bowl isn’t always that interesting.
And that got me thinking. How many of them are actually good?
So I decided to rank them.
I’m not going to rank all of them. That’s way too many. And I’m not going to do in my lifetime because that includes years where I was a babbling baby and don’t remember a thing.
The first Super Bowl I distinctly remember watching was the Rams vs the Titans, so we will start from there.
This ranking will also be from the perspective of an extremely casual fan who just simply wants an exciting game.
And here we go!
24. Patriots defeat Rams 13-3 (2019)
You have Tom Brady, coming off of a dominant offensive performance against the Kansas City Chiefs and going for his 6th Super Bowl.
You have the Rams, with offensive genius Sean McVay and a high flying Rams team.
When you combine those two, and the game ends up being a 13-3 snoozer? With Maroon 5 as the halftime show?
Insanely forgettable Super Bowl.
23. Ravens defeat Giants 34-7 (2001)
It is insane to me that analysts actually picked the Giants to win this game leading up to it.
The 2000 Ravens went 12-4 while going 5 straight games without scoring an offensive touchdown.
The 2000 Giants ranked 16th in offensive points scored.
You know who was 15th?
The Ravens!
That’s right. The Ravens went 5 games without an offensive touchdown and STILL had more points for than the Giants did.
The fact that anyone thought the Giants had a chance in this game is beyond me.
And it showed on the score sheet, with the Giants offense never even getting past midfield the entire game.
22. Seahawks defeat Broncos 43-8 (2014)
This one makes some more sense in terms of predictions.
After all, the Broncos were statistically the best offense in NFL history that season, even with the Seahawks excellent defense.
The game though? Still an absolute snoozefest.
The Seahawks dominated from literally the first snap of the ball, and they never looked back.
I get why people didn’t love this game.
I had a great time!
21. Broncos defeat Panthers 24-10 (2016)
The rotting corpse of Peyton Manning vs MVP Cam Newton who never bothered to show up on the day.
Defensive battles have their fun, for sure, but for a casual fan, this wasn’t a fun watch.
20. Buccaneers defeat Chiefs 31-9 (2021)
Brady’s 7th Super Bowl was overwhelmed by the story of a great Bucs defense completely overpowering a makeshift Chiefs offensive line.
In hindsight, there was really only one was this game could have gone.
19. Buccaneers defeat Raiders 48-21 (2003)
Much like the Ravens and Seahawks Super Bowl wins, or even the 2021 Bucs team, the dominating defense was the story for Tampa Bay.
But the Raiders actually put up some points.
So that’s nice!
18. Colts defeat Bears 29-17
This game was just boring.
It poured down rain, and we had to watch Rex Grossman try to overcome that for Chicago.
The games above? I remember bits and pieces of all of them.
This one?
I remember the opening kickoff for a touchdown aaaaand that’s about it!
17. Steelers defeat Seahawks 21-10
The game wasn’t really close and also had waaaay too much involvement from the refs.
The perfect recipe for a bad Super Bowl.
The Antwaan Randle El touchdown pass to Hines Ward was pretty cool, though.
16. Chiefs defeat 49ers 31-20 (2020)
This is where we start to get into the nitty gritty and things get a little bit harder to decide.
This was a good game, but it had 3 and a half of terrible football from Patrick Mahomes and the electric Chiefs offense.
The last 7 minutes were remarkable, and got them the title, but it still wasn’t the MOST exciting game.
15. Patriots defeat Eagles 24-21 (2005)
This would have been an extremely good Super Bowl if Donovan McNabb wasn’t sick to his stomach from nerves.
Or if Terrell Owens wasn’t playing on a broken leg.
Or if the two of them weren’t constantly beefing the whole time.
In hindsight, maybe that’s why the game was so close to begin with…
14. Patriots defeat Panthers 32-29 (2004)
What do people remember for this game?
They remember another close game where an Adam Vinatieri made the game winning kick and won the Patriots the Super Bowl.
What they may not remember is that 37 of the 61 total points were scored in the 4th quarter.
This was a great game, but it took a while to get going.
13. Giants defeat Patriots 21-17 (2012)
The second of the Giants Super Bowl victories over the Patriots came down to a last second touchdown just like the first one.
And that’s great and all, but the game itself was just fine.
So was their first game, but this one had significantly less stakes at hand.
12. Saints defeat Colts 31-17 (2010)
A back and forth game between two very good teams, finished off by a Tracy Porter pick 6 to clinch it for the Saints.
It may not have been a last second touchdown, but it was surely a fun watch.
11. Rams defeat Bengals 23-20 (2022)
This was a really good game overall.
It’s just slightly tainted by the refs ignoring a clear facemask on a long Bengals touchdown, and making up for it with a very questionable holding call on a 4th down which led to a Rams game winning touchdown.
I just don’t love when the refs get too involved, one way or another.
10. Packers defeat Steelers 31-25 (2011)
An Aaron Rodgers masterclass with 3 turnovers from the Steelers led to Rodgers first and so far only Super Bowl victory.
It felt like the end of the Steelers window while the Packers window was wide open.
As it turned out, that wasn’t the case.
But for a casual fan, a possible changing of the guard is always good.
9. Patriots defeat Rams 20-17 (2002)
The beginning of the Brady era, as his late 4th quarter drive in his first half season as a starter got the Patriots their first ever Super Bowl and shut down the Greatest Show on Turf.
If only we knew what beast would be awoken after this…
8. Rams defeat Titans 23-16 (2000)
One yard.
That’s all it was.
One yard stopped the Titans from being Super Bowl champions, as Kevin Dyson was stopped on the 1 with 3 seconds left and no timeouts.
Come to think of it, why did they throw short of the goal line with 6 seconds left and no timeouts?
They should get some more flak for that.
7. Giants defeat Patriots 17-14 (2008)
As a casual fan? This game would honestly be kind of a nightmare.
Very defensive, not a ton happening.
But 3 specific things make this the Super Bowl that it was.
The last second Plaxico Burress touchdown.
And the fact that this Giants win ended the Patriots bid for 19-0, becoming the 2nd ever team to go undefeated throughout the whole season.
For those reasons, this Super Bowl will be remembered forever.
6. Ravens defeat 49ers 34-31 (2013)
Playoff Joe Flacco and the Ravens came out flying against the Niners, completely destroying them through the first half and one play of the game, leading 28-6.
And then the lights shut off.
And after that, it was a brand new ball game.
Colin Kaepernick and the 49ers found their feet, and led what was almost an absolutely remarkable comeback before a 4th down pass to Michael Crabtree fell incomplete.
The Ravens ran down the clock and took an intentional safety and avoided a massive collapse to win their second Super Bowl.
What was headed towards a bore ended up being a very fun night.
5. Chiefs defeat Eagles 38-35 (2023)
Close game Super Bowls are fun, but the ones that go back and forth for 60 minutes are just awesome.
This was one of those games, with Jalen Hurts playing out of his mind, but still not being able to overcome Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs late in the game to win it all.
An injured Patrick Mahomes, no less.
It was a Super Bowl that took Patrick Mahomes from “this dude is really good” to “this dude is a legend already.”
4. Patriots defeat Seahawks 28-24 (2015)
This was the Seahawks Super Bowl to lose.
The defense was playing great. The offense had found its groove. They were up by 10 in the 4th quarter. It was theirs.
And then defensive end Cliff Avril got hurt.
Suddenly, Tom Brady had time to throw.
And he was clinical.
Two 4th quarter touchdowns put the Pats ahead, but a last drive for the Seahawks found them inside the 10. A run from Marshawn Lynch almost ended up in the endzone, but Dontae Hightower got a fingertip on him to tackle him at the one.
What happened next will be remembered forever.
3. Eagles defeat Patriots 41-33 (2018)
Tom Brady, if you haven’t heard, has won a lot of Super Bowls.
Seven of them, in fact.
But the best game Tom Brady ever played in the Super Bowl was a loss.
Brady went 28-48 with 505 yards and 3 touchdowns, but it wasn’t enough because Nick Foles of all people played the absolute game of his life, throwing 3 touchdowns and catching one in one of the most memorable Super Bowl plays of all time.
This Super Bowl was non stop action. An absolute blast to watch, and I watched it with a Patriots fan.
2. Steelers defeat Cardinals 27-23 (2009)
The Cardinals took a late lead with a 67 yard Larry Fitzgerald touchdown. An electric Super Bowl play.
The Steelers counter it with a Super Bowl winning touchdown catch from Santonio Holmes, one of the greatest passes and catches in Super Bowl history.
And despite all of that, they are both overshadowed by arguably the greatest play in Super Bowl history.
A James Harrison 100 yard pick six right before halftime.
For any new fan who wants to get into football, this is the Super Bowl to show them to get their foot in the door.
1. Patriots defeat Falcons 34-28 (2017)
And this is the one to nail down their fandom.
This game, legitimately, had everything.
An electric defensive touchdown? Check.
Ridiculous catches that will be shown on highlight reels forever? Check.
And a comeback so legendary that all you need to explain it are the words “28-3.”
Once you add in the stakes of the game to go with it, it gets even better.
One fanbase has gone through years of pain and disappointment and is ahead 28-3 with the entire country on their side because of how obnoxious the other fanbase is with their 4 Super Bowl wins and constant success.
All to end with more disappointment for Falcons fans, and more success for Patriots fans.
It wasn’t the outcome the country wanted, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t the best Super Bowl of this century.
